Bad Burritos and Terrible Writing Habits

I'm sitting here trying to figure out where I went wrong when I attempted to recreate my favorite burrito from a local restaurant that closed a while ago and thinking that choosing the recipe for carnitas that was cooked in two cups of oil just because I had most of the ingredients was a terrible idea.

(Flavor was decent, the pool of orange oil on my plate is not, though. Glad I got salad fixings for supper.)

I wasn't kidding.

Meanwhile, I have a load of laundry going, I need to clean up the mess the dog made in the garage, clean up the mess I made in the kitchen, clean the litter box, and have head to town to finish two projects for the museum I volunteer at before four.

Oh, and I have a novel to finish, a facebook page to update, and a blog post to write. All of which will probably be put off until tomorrow (except the blog post, obviously, since I'm writing it now).

Writing is my passion. It is something that I hope to someday use to make a living, yet it seems like it is always being pushed aside for things that are "more important." It's entirely my fault, but I can't help but wonder, amid dripping burritos and necessary cleaning, why do I do that?

Hell, I should be putting off cleaning and laundry and cleaning the litter box so I can write, right? A normal person would, I supposed.

Meh, normal is overrated.

I guess this all comes from growing up, being an adult, or just knowing that there are some things that you hate doing but do because they need to be done.

Thankfully, writing is one of those wonderful hobbies/future occupations that can literally be done anywhere.

You have a 30 minute commute by train every morning? Take a notebook and write about the little gnome who lives under the third seat and steals shoelaces. Your kids will love it.

You have a boring desk job? Pull up a word document and type a few lines every hour to give your mind a break. If your boss asks, it's a focus-sharpening exercise the guru told you about it at the last company-team building seminar.

You need to clean the house? Voice memo your thoughts on your phone and write them down later. This doesn't work too well if you're vacuuming, but we work with what we have.

Someday, I'll take my own advice, but for now, I have some poop to scoop.

Inspiration Strikes...

At the most inopportune time.

Usually when I'm at work and can't do anything about it.

Well, I can do something about it, but the boss tends to not like it. Which is why I have approximately 1.5 million random pieces of paper scattered around my room, purse, laptop bag, and living room ranging in size from a quarter sheet full of scribbles to full 8x11 typed sheets that I jotted down my ideas on between helping customers and dodging managers.

My beautiful mess... Well, some of my beautiful mess.

Or when I'm driving.

It's really dangerous to pull out a legal pad and pen to jot down notes while driving 75-ish mph on the interstate. I won't say how I know (I'm sure you can guess), but this is probably the last thing I would recommend for somebody to do, right after swimming with sharks in a meat suit or eating brussel sprouts. So, it's a good thing that I recently discovered that my phone has a voice memos options so I can just record my random musings out loud. The one downside to this is, I have to listen to myself. I don't know how anybody can stand to hear me talk.

But there was a purpose to this post and that is:

Inspiration can and will strike whenever it damn well pleases and not necessarily when it is ideal for the strikee. It might come when an interesting-looking person walks by or with a stray comment from a friend. A smell might bring it or a simple flash of color.

Heck, I got an idea for a short story about the afterlife today when "Sally's Song" from Nightmare before Christmas came on my Pandora station.

That doesn't mean an artist can only work when that lightning strikes. It's actually not very good for their art if they do that considering how infrequently it happens. Sometimes you have to nudge it along... or blindfold and hogtie it, throw it in the trunk of your car, and drive it out to a cabin in the woods to help you finish your project.

As fun as that sounds, I wouldn't recommend it. Kidnapping a concept is still kidnapping and kidnapping is wrong.

After all of this, if your process is still to work by inspiration alone, do all you can to surround yourself with anything that will peak the Muses' interests and keep the creative juices flowing through you.

If that involves face-smashing your keyboard to the beat of "Meet the Enemy" by Eluvetie until you get the brilliant idea to write a story about a head-banging music fan who follows their favorite death metal band around the world committing murders along the way, so be it.

Reading Old Friends

Where are you in the "Rereading Books" argument?

Some people are against it with a fervor that is usually reserved for politics and which way the toilet paper roll goes (over the top is the right way, just saying).

Meanwhile, some people annually reread some of their favorites. Heck, I know somebody who rereads the entire Harry Potter series every year.

I am definitely a re-reader. The Fallen Angels is a book that I bought probably before I was old enough to fully understand it, yet it is one of my favorites. I probably read it once a year or so and for some reason, I always forget about the twist at the end and am surprised by it. It's like my mind is preserving that little surprise for me.

I'm also one of those people who rereads series when the newest one comes out... except that gets a little much when the series hits Book 6 (Darynda Jones and Karen Marie Moning, I'm looking at you two). After that, I usually only reread the one or two before the newest one.

I've had people ask me why I waste my time rereading books when there are so many new ones out there. I've never had much of an answer for them beyond "Because I like them," but I've been thinking about it for the last couple of days, mainly because I'm thinking about rereading a pair of books that I've loved since middle school.

Rereading books is like hanging out with an old friend. You know all of their stories, you've been on all of their adventures with them, but you still enjoy their company.

The Blank Page: A Beginning

Welcome to the Blank Page!

Now, you might be wondering why in the hell an author would name a blog the "blank page" when that is the very opposite of what an author wants. Well, every author starts by staring at a blank page, sometimes for hours, waiting for the story to come.

It is a true love/hate relationship.

A little about me:

My name is Katherine Wielechowski. I'm a born and raised Nebraskan by parents who grew up on the East coast. Even in my everyday life, I had little culture shock moments (ask me about taking a bagel to school). I am the youngest of four girls (there is a special place in heaven for my father) and a new aunt to a nephew who is going to be spoiled within an inch of his life. I graduated from the University of South Dakota with a Bachelor of Science in History and English. It was at USD that I discovered my love of writing. My first novel took me six years to complete and I still don't think it's finished. My second novel took a little over a year and is currently getting a huge overhaul. Meanwhile, I have written and published five novellas on amazon.com, started countless other books, and am trying to just freaking finish one (it would make my editor so very happy). I have what I like to call genre ADD- I bounce from one genre to the next and have stories in historical romance, action, paranormal, humor, fantasy, distopian fiction, non-fiction, and children's fiction.

I got published! One of the happiest days of my life.

As for the rest of this blog, I'm not 100% sure what I want to do with it.

I'd love to say I'm going to fill it up with inspirational writing for my avid fans and groundbreaking tips for all inspiring writers out there, but I don't want to start out by lying to you. I'm not inspirational and I haven't been writing long enough for groundbreaking tips.

I do promise that I will be entertaining and real. I'll probably bitch about writer's block and slacking sales, I'll use a ton of exclamation points and CAPS LOCK when something exciting happens, and talk about my writing progress... or lack there of. I'll be encouraging with my sliver-lining-glass-half-empty attitude and post a ton of memes that I steal borrow from other writer's groups.

Thank you for joining me on this new beginning. It's sure to be an interesting journey.